On Monday, NASA launched never before videos i audio from Rover of perseverance landing on the surface of Mars. The images contained a detailed look at the rover parachute – And space enthusiasts soon discovered a hidden message that had been written there.
It may seem that the parachute has a purely decorative white and red pattern, but after scientists hinted at the secret message, those who were familiar with the binary code discovered it within hours.
NASA scientists hid the phrase “Dare to do powerful things” in the parachute pattern, with parts of the pattern representing different numbers. It is a popular slogan of the Perseverance team to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The outer rings of the pattern also feature GPS coordinates for JPL’s offices in Pasadena, California: 34 ° 11’58 “N 118 ° 10’31” W.
“In addition to enabling incredible science, we hope our efforts in our engineering can inspire others,” Allen Chen, the mission’s entry, descent, and landing leader, said during a briefing Monday. “Sometimes we leave messages in our work for others to find for this purpose, so we invite you all to try them out and showcase your work.”
Perseverance chief engineer Adam Steltzner confirmed the message Monday night.
The slogan is just one of many Easter eggs hidden aboard the rover, which also carries microchips planted with nearly 11 million names of space enthusiasts and the phrase “Explore as one.”
It also bears a COVID-19 memorial, in the form of an aluminum plate with an image of the Earth supported by the rod of Asclepius, an ancient Greek symbol for healing and medicine.
NASA has a history of including hidden messages rovers.
The Curiosity rover, which hit the red planet in 2012, has small holes in the wheels that said “JPL” in Morse code. Therefore, when Curiosity traveled across the surface of Mars, it stamped “JPL” on the ground wherever it went, erased shortly after by strong Martian winds.
“Such embellishments add artistic elements to missions that are otherwise only dominated by science and technology, as well as enduring tributes to colleagues who have helped pave the way for the exploration of space for humanity, ”said Jim Bell of Arizona State University, who helped decorate almost all of NASA’s rovers on Mars, including perseverance.